As a civilization I have been feeling as if we are at the precipice for sometime and the beginning of a new dawn is upon us. I could never quite put my finger on these feelings. A shift in global consciousness perhaps? Maybe we all shifted into a parallel universe in 2012 when the Mayans predicted our demise? I do not know.
However, I do know that society, myself, the people close to me have all felt this on some small scale. A sense of change in the air and that we can not longer go on with our old ways. Consumption, hate, war, detachment from nature, we all know this way of living has an expiry date and maybe, just maybe that date is now.
The reason I mention this feeling is that we are currently experiencing an unprecedented level of uncertainty as a society in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak. The virus itself will be horrible for the infected and we all bleed for those who will lose their lives or loved ones. Yet there has never been a better time for change, a time for us to reflect on ourselves as individuals and how we can do better as a society. Not just for us, but for nature and the other living beings that share this planet with us, for our future children and grandchildren. If anything has been highlighted by this tragic event it is the fragility of the system we have created and that fear is in itself an insidious plague.
Now, we can’t make drastic changes to society as individuals right now. So what can we do? The greatest weapon we have against fear, is love.
When we cannot go out, we must go within. Spend sometime with ourselves, reflect, listen, feel. This is the perfect opportunity to practice self-love and acceptance. To forgive and to process some of our own traumas and negative behavior patterns. Don’t be afraid of being critical on ourselves as then we can move forward with love and understanding.
When we judge others we are acting from a place of fear, when we push our opinions or beliefs on others, even when we think it is coming from a place of love, it is merely fear wearing a mask. As long as someone is not hurting someone else physically, there is no right and wrong, there only is – and learning to accept that is part of how we are going to heal as a society. Let go of control and know that change is always in flux, it is inevitable and we have no choice but to accept it or suffer. Attempting to control life is like trying to pick up water with our bare hands. Expectations of others only set’s yourself up for suffering, learn to expect one thing. That you will show love in all circumstances, that even when disappointed or when things don’t go our way we will show love, not fear. This only creates resentment, heartbreak, suffering. Unconditional love feels much better.
With the extra time we have to ourselves let’s process some of these emotions, lets feel the thing we have been ignoring or masking with some form of distraction in our normal day to day lives. These are some of the things we should be doing for ourselves which ultimately benefits, us, our loved ones and our society. A healed person does not react from a place fear and hate, a healed person acts from a place of love and understanding and this is how we will move forward as a species.
Fear can control us, I know anxiety and it can be debilitating. For me it works in 3 parts. I will try and explain how I view fear in hope that it may help you if you are ever in need.
The first part is the fear response, this can be from literally anything, but a fear arises (in this case say the virus or economic uncertainty), second is reaction – for me its think, think, think or ruminate. Which is my brains way of thinking I am doing something to avoid dying. The third is reward, the reward in this case is not dying. So the brain can literally create a reward loop for being anxious.
I will use another quick simple analogy to explain myself better. Our ancestors lived on the savanna. They encounter a lion, Shit! The fear response arises (normal, good, I want this fear response). The reaction is to run for your life (yep, good again). The reward is survival (fantastic!). This is how we evolved to have these anxiety reactions and they served us beautifully, otherwise we wouldn’t be here. However in today’s society we are not running from bears or lions, we are trying to survive economic uncertainty or some other benign stress.
For me, the best way to change this loop is to notice I am in one, when the fear response arises, we then have a choice, whether its mentally trying to change the thought patterns with some form of affirmation or self love or literally just accepting the situation and not trying to run (or think for me), whatever your anxiety reaction is. Anyway, I hope I haven’t fully butchered trying to explain myself and that this helps someone!
This is a time to band together as a people, to show more love and kindness. We all react to stress and uncertainty differently and knowing we are not alone is a beautiful part of accepting a situation for what it is. To know that no matter what happens we will face is together. I am fortunate to have an amazing family who I know loves me unconditionally, no matter what, I know they will always love me and have my back.
I one day hope we can get to this place as a species and civilization. No more fear, no more hate and judgement. Just love.
Please feel free to comment your own opinions, like, share, follow.
Until next time, love to you all.
Mitch ❤
The Growth Philosophy 
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